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It’s Derry, Laois, Longford or Sligo

So, with the Round 1A qualifier ties now all played our prospective Round 2A rivals have been narrowed down to a field of four. On Monday morning we’ll be paired against one of Derry, Laois, Longford or Sligo.

We’ve championship experience against all of them relatively recently, including two unhappy meetings in the qualifiers. Our sole championship meetings with both Derry and Longford came while taking the scenic route and, from our perspective, both of these ended in tears.

Derry dumped us out of the championship in Round 2 up at Celtic Park back in 2007 on a dismal day when Ciaran McDonald made his final ever championship appearance for us, as final sub when the match was already lost. Lest me forget, Longford delivered the coup de grâce to the Johnno II era by beating us in the opening round of the qualifiers at Pearse Park in 2010.

Our most recent encounters with the other two have been happier ones. We got past Laois at the second attempt at theAll-Ireland quarter-final stage of the 2006 championship, while only last month we beat Sligo in the opening round of this year’s Connacht championship.

So, one of the four it’ll be: which one would you like to see us paired with on Monday in Round 2A?

Lookit if we can’t beat any of those 4 home or away then we are as well off out of it early and let the players play club football and rest up for next year !

In other news Kildare look very very impressive .
They could shock the dubs !
The gap is closing all the time. Championship is going to be a lot more competitive for next few years . Not good news for us

Meath look useless. Love to play them in machale park and send them packing. Kildare look good alright but the dubs are different gravy. If Kildare do go on and win here we’ll find out how good they really are when Dublin put the pressure on.

So, out of ignorance, not listening or poor attention I need to ask is this game to be played this evening week or tomorrow week? Either way, we need to get past any of these fellas with ease or at the very least with purpose. I like the qualifiers simply because it’s more games but the risk is there of being sent home after a 2010 type experience…..don’t want that again. Don’t think Kildare will beat Dublin but they’ll bother them for sure. That’s if De Dubs beat Westmead first!!!

@our time has come
Very good article highlighted by you recently well worth a read I hope our management have taken note. Concession of needless frees by our midfielders proving costly re stats of our performance v Galway

Meath reminded me of a poor Mayo team trying to do what they weren’t able to do. Both teams got some talking up before hand! Kildare looked like an improving Mayo team with more than one man involved in a movememt now and again….. to their profit. Amazed how far apart the teams were given the reputed excellence of the respective managements.
Well done our neighbours….looked in trouble early on!

A week on from the salthill stumble….will we regain or balance in the qualifiers! The resilience of the Mayo supporters is amazing. I could see the hope coming bac k into people during the week. The biggest concern for me was the comment from Stephen Rochford that he was pleased we were nearly as good as Galway. Yes they are improving but if he doesn’t set the bar a bit higher then that it’s hard to be hopeful. A home draw and a big confidence boosting win is what we need in next round. I think Tyrone Donegal kildare would cause us problems in later rounfs We definitely slipped black into pack.
Excellent under tens blitz in Kilmeena today. Well done to all involved.

Yeah Derry in 2007. Poor Ciaran McDonald and the final awful insult to him bringing him on when the game was lost.
Longford away in 2010. We all know how that went. We could be going full circle and returning to one of these venues to witness the end of another era. Hopefully that will not be the case.

Actually it’s slightly better than 50/50 for a home draw. If we draw Sligo it must be played in McHale Park, because we have already beaten Sligo, doesn’t seem entirely fair but that’s rules of the draw for this year.. By my calculations we have a 62% chance of playing the next match in McHale Park!

Whatever the most straight forward draw is, I want that. Followed by the most straight forward draw in the next round and so on. I originally wanted tough draws, but feck that. I want the handiest, draw that is humanly possible!

Derry or Laois away would be a good test of our resolve for the battles ahead. A case of s@@t or get off the pot.
After watching the Galway game again it was one we should have won. Kirby should have given a bit more power to his shot as gave defender time to get back and rebound was a second chance to put it away. Some wayward shooting and pot shots at the end reminded me of the bad old days. Higgins sending off was the turning point as we had played well against the wind and could have pushed on with the wind. We did not win any breaking ball in the middle as this was the Galway tactic and they always had spare man to pick it up. AOS only at 75% and Diarmuid off the pace he set previously. Andy still top notch at what he does but too much expected of him. Harrison coming back in will be a boost. Roll on July 1st and a winning return to action.

Watched game again last night. Really should have won it, showed great steel in 2nd half and on another day would have won it even with 14 men. Would have no fear of Galway if we were lucky enough to get them later in season. Bottom line now is do the players have the determination to reach the levels of intensity required for the additional games with only 7 day breaks. If not, I’m sure a few will retire, and some rebuilding will happen. This team owe us nothing, just such a pity they didn’t get over the line to win the all Ireland medal they so deserve. My feeling is they will be in Croke park in August!!

Let’s say we exit this years championship before quarter final stage. Do ye think rochford will be at the helm for 18. If we do exit this year without winning it which is what the vast majority of gaa people think , I wonder will the likes of cillian and aido hang around to help build a new team around them. Or are they mentally exhausted to a point where they might quit albeit they have another 4/5 seasons left in them at least.

Expecting a big Roscommon win today a d who knows in the final then. Galway are nothing special. Roscommon winning connacht would be good for Mayo as they could be potential Quarter Final opponents. Great we have club championship on this weekend.

The draw is pot luck. Home or away we should have the beating of all those teams.

Longford have had a bad season and went out of Leinster tamely. Derry relegated to Div 3, Laois to Div 4, and we have seen Sligo up close.

In the next round Clare are a steady but not top class team, Meath were shown to be all bluster last night, Donegal or Tyrone would be a big challenege but either will have the scars of defeat.

Aftet that presumably Cork or Ros will await. We would be to be better than either.

But there is a big BUT

Years of positive performances have a question mark because our manager is seeking out disaster. His decisions cost us against Galway two years in a row and in the All Ireland.

Leaving a 3 time All star out of the Galway game was criminal. Ignoring an All Star corner back shocking. Add Boyle and Harrison into the mix with Higgins and big Aiden and we have no excuses not to be facing Kerry….. if the players are prepared and motivated

Mayo should beat the pick of those 4 teams. I feel that we might’ve beaten Galway also if we were more direct from the start of the second half. Seems harsh to blame Kirby for not scoring a goal. Give him a bit of time and he will get scores. Our midfield looked like the area that needed help mopping up and stopping attacks, but I’d prefer if it wasn’t Cillian helping out there.
I hope we revert to the running game we were so good at.
I think Rochford will also have learned from the Galway game and I wouldn’t worry about meeting up with them again. The easier the better is the way through to quarter finals, keeping the risk of injuries and suspensions to a minimum while letting some of the younger generation find their feet.

Sean Burke, are you seriously suggesting that were mayo to be knocked out early this year that Cillian and aido would retire from football at the ages of 24 and 26 respectively?!!!! Not a hope!!!

I might be on my own here but I don’t think an early exit would be a complete disaster this year. I think the team look a bit jaded and maybe a years rest might do them good. Don’t get me wrong tho, I hope and think we’ll be playing football in August. I would hate to see us change managers again, chopping and changing managers does NOTHING for a teams continuity, Rochford deserves time to build his team as this current crop is still the team Horan built. Reape, Irwin, reape & co will all play a bigger part next season I’m sure.

I agree with Niall an early exit this year might do us the world of good it would give the lads time to rest and rediscover their hunger and give them a break from that intense training. It would give the mamagement time to take stock and see what’s our there. But in saying that I expect us to be in the quarter finals but we don’t have a forward plan to trouble the likes of Kerry or Dublin I think we have the forwards in the county but we look clueless up front. If there is an attacking plan can someone please explain it to me. I personally wouldn’t kick snow off a rope so I don’t want to be too hard on the lads

I have voted for Longford as I would like payback for the humiliation of 2010. At our best we can take care of this Donegal team if our paths cross Have been very impressed with Tyrone. have always felt it would be them and the Dubs in the Semi-Final in that half of the draw and they will provide serious opposition. A very generous referee stopped them from been the ones to end the Dubs run.

@backdoorsam
Imo to play the short hand passing game you need high levels of fitness, Mayo are not there yet, compare with say Tyrone. Until we get to those levels our best option is to mix fast accurate foot passing with the more deliberate handpassing game. For the foot passing game to work we need target players in our full forward line and its my opinion thats where we are falling down. Interesting analysis of Galway game on joe.ie but at least six of Galways scores came from ‘needless’ fouls by our two midfielders. Our long kickouts are still a problem, Clarke a superb shot stopper and I dont think its a big ask to change the style of his long kickouts. See again Tyrone today.
To me it doesnt matter who we get in the draw, but we do need a convincing win to get momentum into our season. Leadership required now by our big players. But thats only my opinion. I would be glad to see other contributors explaining what we need to do tactically.

Not really suggesting Niall, I’m just wondering what ye think. Pretty sure aido is 27 and cillian 25 too. I doubt any inter county footballers have ever been on such an exhausting journey without winning it , that’s the jist of why I’m asking , as a matter of interest has any county team ever in relative recent times played so close to winning it over a five year period , it must take its toll on the players at some stage . its fooking drained the life out of me as a supporter so I can only imagine what it does to players.

If Tyrone did to one of the weaker counties today what they did to Donegal the calls for 2 tier championship would grow louder…but given it was to a top 5 team the “2 tier evangelists” will have to come up with a different spiel. Carlow actually gave dubs a Better game than Donegal gave today.

Sean, Cillian is 25 this year and aido is just gone 26. No doubt it is exhausting but the view from the players is generally that it’s harder for the fans than the players. Possibly because they can do something about it. Wether that’s true or not, I don’t know. But I whole heartedly agree the last few years has put a few grey hairs on my head and possibly taken a year or two of my lifespan!

Ger, he has played 3 times against Corofin in the past 3 years and player well in 2 of those. I think it’s unfair you’d pick the example where he didn’t. He also played well in games against Crossmaglen, Brigids and Dr Crokes. That’d a far bigger strike rate than miss.

Watching him again this year, he is getting better, quicker, stronger, more mobile and more accurate, and his decision making is second to none. A fantastic player and it will never make sense to me how he isn’t regarded in the best 30 in the county.

Douglas did opt out of his own accord..Think he was aware he wasn’t going to feature much in mgmt plans this year..It is crazy the way he can bang over so many pts for his club and doesn’t get a look in for Mayo..and us screaming for forwards..

I can see why previous managers passed over him. He was very light up to last year and would not have been able for the intensity of the championship. However he did a huge amount of strength and conditioning to bring himself on. He’s two footed, takes frees, has an eye for goal and can kick from distance. I’m aware that players can reach messiah like statuses when they’re not playing(the Richie feeney effect) but to me he’s a similar player to regan except far better. I certainly would have preferred to see him with the ball in his hands at the end of the Galway match.

Hopefully we wont get DERRY AWAY. I would be confident with any other draw.I hope i have not jinsked it and that we will get DERRY.i think playing derry away would be a very dodgy game.I would like to get longford or laois preferably at home.

Always thought Neil Douglas a class player. Who really knows what happens in the relationships between players and managers and the panel in general? Still, I cannot imagine he would be ineffective given proper runs in games. i wonder what are his ‘caps’ etc – MayoMark might be able to throw some light on his stats with the green and red.

Didn’t Neil have injury problems when he tried out for Mayo before, which could explain why he never made into contention with the previous two managements. This year, I’m not sure he was given a fair crack of the whip. If he chose to walk away of his own volition, then there was probably a reason for that.

First im hearing of Dougie leaving by his own decision, thought he was released along with a host of other fringe players. Its fairly obvious the way he works on his game and condition that he has inter county ambitions. I would agree with Mark, I find it amazing he isnt on the panel, should have been for the past three years. What kind of player would he be if he had three years of inter county training under his belt. The size reason does not wash with me, how does that explain Boland and Regan, also Ronaldson and Sweeney in past seasons. Id have Dougie ahead of a number of current panel forwards.

Surely Rochford will keep an open mind. I know if I was manager id have an open door policy…if I’m short on scoring forwards and some lad is on fire for his club, I’m gonna bring him in and see how is goes in training.

I agree with Sean Burke though, it’s a bit puzzling how 3 separate management groups have passed him over. Can they all be wrong?

Every county has a few lads who shine at club level but for whatever reason it doesn’t happen at intercounty for them.

It happens in rugby, it happens in soccer, but for some reason Mayo football culture is to close the panel and take no heed on mid season club form.
The last out of the blue club form pick I recall was Alan Murphy. I think he is the oldest player to make their Mayo debut.

Lads bringing players in from the cold is daft pure and simple. Intercounty training is at a different level fitness wise. Looking at the drills pre Galway game they are very elaborate. Best example is 2014 vs Kerry when Barry returned from injury and was ineffective. SOS too to a lesser degree. A fella like Barry who has huge credit in the bank should be allowed up to 3 weeks out but no more as it’s too far to catch up.

On the Neil Douglas debate Corofin double marked him last autumn and he looked classy on the ball. Free percentage that day a bit low for intercounty but it was coming into winter. The lad has been unlucky. Missed some early season games this year and others such as Loftus jumped ahead in the queue and unfortunately we lost Freeman too for same reason, a lad with good scoring potential and experience. Unfortunately neither are blessed with great pace and Loftus is probably a better long term prospect.

I would actually have been in favour of dropping Cillian early season for Freeman despite Mayo’s MOM in Galway (I voted for Donie) as Freeman is a very good free taker. Would Freeman have missed the 1-1 Cillian did in 1st half? Making Cillian fight for his jersey would do no harm. Only Loftus has potential now to do that and we’ve no idea how he’s going. Reape is the other talented U21 we haven’t seen or heard. Otherwise Andy Moran sometimes grabs frees and bangs them over the bar when time is short meaning he could be played in Cillian’s corner and Regan who is a good free taker the other side. Wouldn’t mind knowing if Andy hits higher percentage shots over in training as he’s very accurate. In fairness to Cillian he won more ball out front in Galway game than for a long time but most people see that as a weak Galway FB line. 0-1 from play is a poor return when he should have got 1-2.